i recently received an email which included the phrase )…in an era when everyone is becoming more focused on personal gain…” which go me to pondering on what that means exactly…it certainly does seem that we are reverting to the “greed is good “ credo of the 1980s and 90s…but where did that come from and why are we reverting? well …smilin’ cal Coolidge said “the business of America is business” and the 1920s were vaguely like the present with their “I got mine, you’d better get into the market and get yours” mentality so you’d have to think the credo of greed is older than dutch reagan and slick willie…it was around at least sixty years before nancy led ronnie into the white house…and the rockefellers got their start by asking the federal government outrageous prices for the goods they sold abe Lincoln during the civil war…so even smilin’ cal had precedents to allow for…i am thinking it goes back to the year 1789 when the twin principles of “ I got mine, you get yours” and “ protect the elite from the mob at all costs” ( by making appear that the constitution guarantees rights rather than limiting them…the bill of rights was tacked on to make the whole contraption fly ) became institutionalized as government policy…so what was the anomaly that the system had to “revert” from? i am inclined to think it was the great depression and the impact it had on our parents ( i am one of those horrible boomers the kids are on about…wait a bit…give them time…they are young, there is still hope they may understand )…it made them mistrustful of authority ( except for roosevelt )…it showed them the elite was not infallible…that authority didn’t always know what it was talking about…that politicians ( except Roosevelt ) lied to achieve their own agenda or those of their true constituents….and they pass those doubts on to us…now we are aging and we have lost control of the kids…we , seemingly, did not have the depth of conviction our parents did and could not pass that mistrust of authority and elites on to the kids ( pardon me but don trump is nothing if not of the elite despite his racist, nativist yahoo credentials…he lied to those people who elected him…they will be unhappy…they won’t like what they get )…two anomalous generations are fading and the institutions that preserve the privilege of wealth are reasserting themselves…and it looks like the kids are buying it.
